New Airway Bypass Treatment To Help Emphysema Sufferers Breathe Easier

Emphysema Treatment

Researchers are now studying an investigational treatment that may offer a significant new, minimally-invasive option for those suffering from advanced widespread emphysema.

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The EASE (Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema) trial focuses on a procedure called airway bypass that involves creating pathways in the lung for trapped air to escape -- and in turn, may relieve emphysema symptoms including shortness of breath.

Emphysema, most often brought on by smoking, affects an estimated 60 million people worldwide with more than 3 million sufferers in the United States. There is no cure. It's a chronic, progressive, and irreversible lung disease characterized by the destruction of lung tissue. The loss of the lungs' natural elasticity and the collapse of airways in the lung combine so that the lungs can no longer deflate to let air in. The patient is in a permanent state of "breathlessness"

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